The Government of India continued its push for better ties with Europe, as External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio in Delhi on Friday. Chief on the agenda, as has been the case during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tour to Germany, France, as well as to Denmark for the Nordic Summit, was the Ukraine issue, climate change cooperation, and space cooperation between the two countries.
“On Ukraine, the two Ministers expressed their concern on the ongoing humanitarian crisis and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. They also underlined the importance to safeguard the international order based on the UN Charter, with special regard to the respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity,” a joint statement issued by India and Italy after the meeting said. Significantly, the Italian Minister made no criticism of Russia in the statement, the first of Italy’s European counterparts this week not to insert a line “condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”.
The Ministers discussed implementing the “India-Italy Strategic Partnership on Energy Transition” announced last year during the Prime Minister’s visit to Italy for the G-20 meeting, and also discussed cooperating at multilateral organisations, including the G-20.
